Driving to Perfection

(Page 10 of 10)

August/September 1992
 
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Another solution for a mudhole is to drain it into a drywell. Dig down a foot or more and lay perforated drainage pipe or tile along the drive's wettest edge in order to collect the water. Connect it with a "T" fitting or bend it to a length of pipe laid in a down-sloping ditch to a low, dry area. There, dig a pit four feet or more down into the subsoil. Fill with gravel, top with tamped down excavated soil. If the pipe enters the drywell at a level below the drainage tile, you should have a dry drive.

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Maintenance and Good Grooming

Keep your drive in condition by grooming it frequently. Rake tire-thrown surface gravel from the sides and mid-ridge onto wheel tracks and into small pits in order to keep potholes or corduroy ridges from developing. Fill small pools of standing water after heavy rains, cutting small channels to the drive side to drain them if need be. If the drive deteriorates to ruts over the winter, rototill it to a depth of six inches with spring-toothed pick tines (available as accessories for your own or a rented large-size rototiller). Or, have it groomed with the road crew's power rake (don't have it scraped). Then compact it evenly, add another inch or two of topping, and see if drainage can be improved.

Last Words of Warning

Finally, if you are in the early phases of picking that perfect spot for your new country home, factor in the feasibility and cost of building a country-practical drive. Down the mountain from us, a steep hillside has been subdivided into narrow minimum-frontage lots. Lacking ample lot width for gently rising, curved driveways, the fresh-from-town homeowners find their deeply cut switch-back drives washing out after heavy rains (one downhill drive at the bottom of a two-mile hill road becomes a virtual torrent after every thunderstorm). Not even a plow-equipped 4x4 pickup can bull its way up their steep drives through heavy, mid winter wet snow. So, following every blizzard, our new neighbors' vehicles cluster at drive entries, as they shovel for hours or struggle up and down slope with snow-blowers which are better suited to flat, paved suburban driveways. "For Sale" signs are beginning to pop up. Don't let something as comparatively minor as a driveway dampen your joy of country living ...plan and build your drive well.

Preventing Washout on Hills

The main problem on a hill drive (no matter how much or little rain will fall there) is a periodic overdose of water which will use your drive as a channel and wash out. If you have no choice but to build a steep drive, you can keep it passable ...with effort.

Drive construction is conventional; cut and fill as needed to attain the best grades and easiest curves.

Put ample rock-lined or baffle-darned ditches on both sides of the drive. Over knobs, deepen the ditches enough so that they maintain a steady down-grade, and install drain tile in a gravel bed at the bottoms.

You may be able to divert water by cutting ditches above the drive and leading them downhill in another direction — in effect, creating a new stream bed. Be sure to clear these ditches frequently. Perennial sod and forest roots will choke them quickly.

If a drive cuts sharply around the hill you may have to install a culvert under the drive from the uphill to the downhill ditch to prevent rushing water from eroding the inner drive margain. In dips, you may also have to run culverts or drain tile from the ditch to the outer slope of the hill.

Finally, if the hill dumps more water on your drive than the ditches or culverts can handle, you may have to dig a sump on the uphill side of the drive just below the spot where the water courses converge. Sink a well about a yard across and four feet deep. From the well bottom, dig a trench across the drive so it opens out on the downslope. Lay a culvert or iron pipe in the trench from sump to outlet, refill, and compact. Line the well with rock or brick and cover with a metal sewer grating or install parallel pipes at the top to keep forest trash from clogging the pipe. Keep the grill clear and the sump should keep your drive from washing out.

A Country Town's Zoning Regulations

The following are regulations in a typical country town:

Plan Approval: by highway superintendent before building permit granted; drive must be completed and signed off before Occupancy Permit granted.

Visibility: Clear line-of-sight to 5 feet stakes placed at roadside 200 ft. in either direction upon town road.

Setback: Fifteen feet from property lines.

Grade: Minimum of five percent for 20 feet beyond point where drive intesects with ditch line of Town Road.

Access: Entry, grade and turns adequate for emergency vehicles. Minimum width of ten feet. If drive is over 150 ft. long, turnarounds must be adequate for 1-Ton truck.

Drainage: Construction must minimize drainage problems onto adjacent properties. Drainage ditches and roadside culverts to be approved by Highway Superintendent; their construction and maintenance is the responsibility of property owner.

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